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And the New State of Florida Song is. . .
"Florida (Where the Sawgrass Meets the
Sky)" written by Jan Hinton of Pompano Beach. Florida residents chose the song from among three finalists in online voting, and the
winner was announced at the Florida Music Educators' Association conference in Tampa on January 11th, 2008. State Senator Tony Hill is presenting a bill to the Florida legislature in an
attempt to replace the current state song, "Suwanee River (Old Folks at Home)" by Stephen Foster. The lyrics
sing of “The orange blossoms' sweet perfume and fireworks fill the air. / And cultures rich, our native people share."
Mary Jane Ryals Named First Poet Laureate of the Big Bend
Florida
poet Mary Jane Ryals was named the first Poet Laureate of the Big Bend by
a panel of writers, editors, and professors formed to make the selection. Ryals is the author of several books, including
A Messy Job I Never Did See a Girl Do, Getting Into the Intercultural Groove, Music in Arabic,
and the upcoming collection of poetry The Moving Waters. During her term she'll work with the Tallahassee Writers' Association to bring poetry into the community. For more information, read an article on Tallahassee.com.
Florida Author takes Schneider Family Book Award
Hurt Go Happy
received the Schneider Family Book Award at the American Library Association's 2008 Book Awards ceremony in January.
This award honors an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience.
Hurt Go Happy was previously selected by the New York Public Library System as one
of the winners of the 78th Annual Books for the Teen Age 2007 awards, the KLIATT Editor's Choice for 2006 Young Adult
Hardcover Fiction and the International Reading Association's 2007 Teachers' Choice Selection. Read our review of Hurt
Go Happy on our
Young Adult Page.
Florida Book Review in
SunPost Article
John Hood of the Miami SunPost interviews Florida Book Review’s founder and editor, Lynne Barrett,
about the website’s plans and her writing projects, past and present. Read article here.
Key West Hemingway Days Festival Honors for Writers, Look-Alikes
The Lorian Hemingway
Short Story Competition winners were announced in Key West as part of the Hemingway Days Festival, which also included a reading
of short stories by some of the entrants. Lorian Hemingway, Ernest Hemingway's granddaughter, has been judging
the
contest, along with a judging panel, since 1981. The contest is for emerging writers of merit (with entry limited to
writers whose fiction has not appeared in a nationally distributed publication with a circulation of 5,000 or more).
This year's first prize of $1,000 went to Bruce Overby fof Los Altos, CA, and the second prize of $500 was awarded to
Australian G.L. Osborne. To find out more about the writing competition and to see a complete list of winners, click here.
For the 27th year in a row, contestants from all over the United States and as far away as
Australia competed in the Key West Hemingway Look-Alike contest sponsored by Sloppy Joe's Bar. This year's winner was Larry Austin, an insurance agent from Palm Harbor, Florida. FBR's P. Scott Cunningham
reports on the contest.
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Florida Book Awards Announces Winners
The Florida Book Awards
honor the best Florida literature published in the previous year. The 2007 winners were announced in early March.
2007
Medal Winners
General Fiction:
Gold Medal: Tourist Season by Enid Shomer (Read Review here) Silver
Medal: You Can’t Get There from Here by Leonard Nash (Read Review here)
Bronze Medal: Origin
by Diana Abu-Jaber (Read Review here) Bronze
Medal: Ticket to the Mountain by Uthaya Kumar
Popular
Fiction:
Gold
Medal: Head Games by Thomas B. Cavanaugh
Silver Medal: Magic
City by James W. Hall (Read Review here)
Bronze Medal: Effigies by Mary Anna Evans Bronze
Medal: Bermuda Schwartz by Bob Morris Bronze
Medal: Knock Off by Rhonda Pollero
Poetry:
Gold
Medal: The House on Boulevard Street by David Kirby (Read Review here) Silver
Medal: Fata Morgana by Reginald Shepherd
Bronze Medal: Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees by Julianna
Baggott
Florida
Nonfiction:
Gold Medal: Mirage: Florida
and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S. by Cynthia Barnett (Read Review here) Silver
Medal: Florida Then and Now by Bruce Hunt
Bronze Medal: Southern Comforts: Rooted in a Florida Place by Sudye Cauthen Bronze
Medal: Looking for the New Deal by Elna Green
Spanish
Language Book:
Gold Medal: Libro de Silencio by German Guerra Silver Medal: Samuel Maximo y Niketon by Ariel Gonzalez
Young Adult Literature:
Gold Medal: The
Search for the Unnamed One by Tracy A. Akers Silver Medal: Taken by Edward Bloor
Bronze Medal: Total Constant Order by Crissa-Jean
ChappellFiction
Children's
Literature:
Gold Medal: The Sorta Sisters by Adrian Fogelin Silver Medal: The Slippery
Map by N.E. Bode
Bronze
Medal: Eli Remembers by Ruth Vander Zee
To
see the 2006 winners and to find out more about the competition, visit The Florida Book Awards website.
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Gala Salute to Benefit Literacy
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| Mitchell Kaplan, Founder of Books & Books |
More than 60
South Florida authors were on hand Saturday, October 13, 2007 to toast Books & Books owner Mitchell Kaplan for his nurturing
of literacy in Miami-Dade Country and his support of the Miami-Dade public library. The event benefited
the Miami Dade Public Library System’s literacy program and Project L.E.A.D. (Literacy for Every Adult in Dade), offering
tutoring to adult learners who are functionally illiterate. Kaplan, who founded Books & Books 25 years ago, is also a
founder of Miami Book Fair International and chair of its Board of Directors and has served as president of the American Booksellers
Association. Among those who were on hand at the Miami Beach Regional Library at 227 22nd Street, Miami Beach,
for the gala tribute were master of ceremonies Les Standiford, Dave Barry, Edna Buchanan, Jim DeFede, John Dufresne, Beth
Dunlop, James W. Hall, Brad Meltzer, Ana Menendez, Mirta Ojito, Ana Veciana-Suarez, and Dan Wakefield. There
was food from some of the area’s top restaurants and live music by three bands. Visit the library’s site for more
info: www.mdpls.org/news/entry/booksBooks.asp.
Florida Writer takes "Best First Book"
Prize at International Latino Awards
Sandra Rodriguez Barron’s novel,
The Heiress of Water (Rayo), won “Best First Book - English” at the 9th
Annual International Latino Book Awards, announced May 31, 2007 at BookExpo America in New York City. Ms. Barron lived in South Florida for many years and
received her MFA from Florida International University.
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